Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Hayley Atwell Reveals How the MCU Helped Prepare Her

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One star Hayley Atwell is no stranger to action, having played Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and particularly got some major action moments in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness where she played the Captain Carter iteration of the character from another world in the multiverse. However, according to Atwell, her work in the MCU is very different from the style of action in Mission Impossible — so much so that she said it was like doing an entirely different genre. Speaking with ComicBook.com‘s Brandon Davis, Atwell explained how it was her drama school training as well as the Mission Impossible team that had the bigger impact on her role.

“I think because they’re so different it feels almost like you could compare it to me doing a period drama adaptation of a book,” Atwell said.  “It’s just because the taste, the style, the filmmakers themselves are so different and so brilliant in their own unique ways that I think my background in drama school training had meant that I developed this kind of work ethic that is about manipulating the body in being able to know how to make it do things safely, but through the right kind of education and training. And so, with Mission, we had these experts in stunts. We had Wade Eastwood and his team and I trained with them every day for five months. And whether that’s mixed martial arts, sleight of hand tricks, drifting in a car, everything was curated in this kind of bespoke program to make sure that I was doing it in a safe and sustainable way. And they knew, they were like, ‘look, she doesn’t like doing high kicks. We can’t make her do them. She’s never gonna get her leg that high up there. So, let’s find the style that actually she will want to kind of come into work and do every day.’”

Atwell Has Cast Doubt on an MCU Return

While Atwell remains a fan favorite among MCU actors and fans would love to see her return as any incarnation of Peggy Carter in future installments of the franchise, Atwell herself has cast doubt on her return.

“It’s so funny, because, you know, I did that 10 years ago, and I love her because I love the people, and you never know [if there could be more],” Atwell said previously. “It depends on what Marvel, and what the audiences, want… I’m a custodian of her. Compared to the rest of my career and everything I’ve done or my stage work and doing Mission: Impossible now and all the diversity of roles I’ve played, and the diversity that I get to explore, and to be able to play more complex roles and villains and lots of different things — she is not mine anymore. She lives in the world of people that have taken her into their heart. And that’s beautiful. But it’s kind of like: yeah, you can’t control the impact a particular role has on the rest of the world.”

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Completely Changed After a Screening

According to director Christopher McQuarrie, after Edgar Wright saw a screening of the film, it underwent major changes.

“Edgar came to one of the later screenings [of the film] and asked one simple question about a specific sound – kind of an audio cue – and I thought I’d addressed that note,” McQuarrie said. “It was so obvious to me. But it wasn’t obvious to Edgar.”

“And when I asked the audience, it wasn’t obvious to them either. Nobody thought to bring it up until Edgar did. And that changed the entire movie,” the director added. “It changed the entire movie for the better. You just need honesty and clarity and awareness. No one person, Tom [Cruise] included, can really sit there, and look at the movie 24 hours a day, objectively. Tom and I will just look one another in the eye, and say, ‘do we want to change this? Or is this what we prefer?’”

What is Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One About?

Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premieres in theaters on July 12th. It’s the beginning of the end for the action-packed franchise, as Cruise reteams with longtime collaborator and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie for more death-defying and breathtaking stunts. Hunt and allies Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) attempt to track down a new weapon with the power to tear the world apart. Actors Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales join the cast for the latest installment in the Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to wrap up with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.